3 held in Hyderabad on betting racket

Hyderabad: Police on Thursday said it caught three persons red handed in the Kachiguda area of the city while they were engaged in betting during Wednesday's One-dayer between India and Australia. Police said one Rajesh Pittie, his brother Vinod Pittie and Tarun Agrawal were nabbed and cash totalling Rs 60,000 was seized from them along with some incriminating items. They included five mobile phones, besides papers carrying the list of customers placing the bet, the amounts, time and on whom the bet was being placed. The trio had hired a flat in the area for the betting exercise on the eve of the Pune match. They were using cell phones to get in touch with their permanent customers to register their bet . They also used three landline phones to find out the prevalent betting rates in Mumbai. The odds were put at 1:5 for an Indian win, while for Australia it was 1:20. On sensing the world champions racing to a comfortable victory, they called off the betting an hour before the game ended. The police, with a video camera, raided the flat.